Purpose of the Foundation
With the twenty-first century now before us, seikatsusha are seeking the realization of a society in which they can feel both affluence and comfort. It is becoming clear that the dimensions of this realization will be based not only upon the individual level of consumers but also upon the level of local communities and on a more global scale, as well as upon harmony with our natural environment.
Therefore, to realize such a society, what is required is a fundamental change in direction in, as well as improvements of, the various areas of our economic or social systems. Namely, in order for the aims of our national economy to more directly lead to improvements in people’s quality of life, there is a need to immediately reorient concepts of growth and the perceptions toward the application of its results in a direction centered on individual lifestyles.
As described above, we have reached a period in which people are prioritizing their individual lifestyles and are looking for new sets of lifestyle values and new lifestyles, making this a period of high demand for the provision of information necessary for seeking and establishing those goals.
Against this background, it has become necessary to systematically consider, explore, and present through pragmatic programs questions such as “What kind of lifestyles should we aspire to in the twenty-first century?” or “How can we proactively work toward the realization of those goals?” Moreover, we believe that it is important to think as seikatsusha capturing an entire range of phenomena through the various lifestyle patterns of each of their individual personalities, to support each seikatsusha as they seek and realize their new sets of lifestyle values and new lifestyles, and to set the stage for promoting the provision of, for example, concepts and case examples to engage with and sometimes guide the changes in consciousness of the seikatsusha.
We believe that awareness of such problems has been defined according to the realization of Japan as a lifestyle superpower based on the 5-year Lifestyle Superpower Plan concluded by the government in June 1992, as well as to the theme of reorienting society toward an emphasis on personal lifestyles as described in the report of the 13th Social Policy Council held in November of the same year.
Based on these perspectives, with the purpose of investigating and researching the directions and specific aspects of new lifestyles to be aspired toward in the future (i.e., “High-Life”) mainly from the perspective of seikatsusha and consumers, as well as of contributing to the popularization and cultivation of related findings and the improvement and development of people’s lives through support for related activities, we have undertaken the establishment of the Research Institute for High-Life Foundation.
We believe that, as we enter a new age for seikatsusha, we will be able to use our findings to draw plans for reorienting our economic and social systems and reorienting our lifestyles, organize cooperation between communities and businesses, and contribute to improving the lifestyles of the entire nation and reenergizing community life.